Observation/Reflection #2: Eyes in the Back of Your Head: Observing Student Actions
From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be taking notes, doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher.
What strategies are used by your CT to encourage students to attend and engage? Watch carefully how your CT moves around the room. Draw a map of the classroom and sketch a path showing (approximately) this movement.
How important is student engagement to your view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement?
Observations:
Mrs. Malone stands at the front of the room reviewing the lab this class of honors biology students have done the week before. A she does this, she is looking out at her students and asking them questions. Everyone, even the back row, has their lab out and is looking at it and answering her questions. During a laboratory procedure, Ms. Malone walked around to each lab group and observed them, made pointers, and corrected any possible safety violations. During this time, most students were working diligently, and some were talking amongst themselves. As soon as Ms. Malone or I walked past, we would only hear science discussion.
In the inquiry biology class, I noticed some behavioral differences. While Ms. Malone went over the lab from two days prior, and gave today's instructions, the students were mostly staring blankly. Some students followed along and offered answers, but I noticed that three out of four students in the back row were doing something other than paying attention. Some either scribbled or doodled on their notebooks, one student was looking through his agenda and another was flipping through the textbook on her desk. Ms. Malone attempted to keep the class engaged by saying "as we flip the page we will see..." and then paused to make sure everyone was looking at the specific lab page that she was discussing. After the directions, Ms. Malone showed some videos of unicellular and multicellular organisms that demonstrated what she had been discussing. As the videos played, she narrated what was happening . I noticed now that students were mo engaged after watching these videos and were now asking questions like "is that how they eat?", " what is that gooey stuff", etc...Ms. Malone now reminds them of their task and allows the students to break up into their groups to continue working on their labs.
Reflection:
In the honors class, the teacher only had to ask questions to keep the students engaged and involved. In the inquiry class, the students needed more aid in keeping their attention. Asking thought provoking questions didn't work very well to keep them on task as it did with the honors class. The students in inquiry have some mild behavioral, attention, and learning disabilities. Possibly due to this reason, the students were unable to comprehend what was being asked of them and they lost interest quickly, leading them off task. In order to engage these students, the teacher had a back up plan. Since this is an inquiry class with a lot of students who have I.E.P.'s, Ms. Malone already planned to include some type of differential instruction. By showing the students an animated clip and an amoeba moving under a microscope, the students were now able to focus a little more since they don't have to visualize it themselves having only been provided with an explanation. This applied to the visual/ spatial learners from Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. The students proved to the teacher that this secondary attempt to capture their attention worked because they were now all paying attention and asking questions.
Besides using visual aids, Ms. Malone maintains good classroom management by walking around the classroom. This method was affective for both honors and the inquiry class. The teacher would occasionally move throughout the rows and aisle to ensure all students had their notebooks out, and were doing what they were supposed to be. This also encouraged students to participate because I noticed as the teacher circulated and made eye contact with some students, they were prompted to prove they were paying attention by asking questions or answering those asked by the teacher.
To me, student engagement is huge. Teaching is about getting students to make connections, spark interests, and obtain knowledge about certain topics. How can a teacher expect to do that if the students aren't engaged? You can have a great lesson that when students are engaged for it, it works well. If the students are not engaged however and are thinking about after school activities and lunch, then a teacher is left teaching to a bunch of empty minds. Teaching anything to unengaged students is like teaching to an empty classroom, or a wall. Student engagement is the key to them taking anything out of the lesson. I plan to engage students by opening every lesson in an interesting and entertaining way that will either urge them to make connections to their lives, or leave them so curious they are dying to begin what I had planned for that day. Throughout the lesson I will make sure students are on task by walking around the room, making eye contact, and calling on students to answer questions. If I feel that I'm losing the students, I might then have them participate in an activity of some sort to bring them back on task in an active way. Students are more likely to stay engaged if the material applies to them, so I will constantly be trying to show the students why each thing we are learning about is important, and how or why they might use it in the future. Besides these strategies to keep students engaged, I also plan to have a comfortable classroom environment with limited interruptions ( such as food, drink, cell phones, and calling out) which will all hopefully contribute to better student engagement. Without the students paying attention and being involved in the lesson, they would miss out on so many great learning opportunities that teachers took the time with planning. This is why incorporating some type of student engagement method into a lesson plan is so crucial if you want to reach the learning goals and objectives.
Observation/Reflection #2: Eyes in the Back of Your Head: Observing Student Actions
From a seat in the rear of the room, observe your students and take notes on what they are doing while the teacher is presenting in the front of the room, while they are supposed to be taking notes, doing seatwork, and/or when they are working in the lab. Look closely at each student for a range of behaviors, and resist the temptation on only see what you expect. Note especially what is happening furthest from the teacher.What strategies are used by your CT to encourage students to attend and engage? Watch carefully how your CT moves around the room. Draw a map of the classroom and sketch a path showing (approximately) this movement.
How important is student engagement to your view of how you will teach? What strategies will you employ to encourage student engagement?
Observations:
Mrs. Malone stands at the front of the room reviewing the lab this class of honors biology students have done the week before. A she does this, she is looking out at her students and asking them questions. Everyone, even the back row, has their lab out and is looking at it and answering her questions. During a laboratory procedure, Ms. Malone walked around to each lab group and observed them, made pointers, and corrected any possible safety violations. During this time, most students were working diligently, and some were talking amongst themselves. As soon as Ms. Malone or I walked past, we would only hear science discussion.
In the inquiry biology class, I noticed some behavioral differences. While Ms. Malone went over the lab from two days prior, and gave today's instructions, the students were mostly staring blankly. Some students followed along and offered answers, but I noticed that three out of four students in the back row were doing something other than paying attention. Some either scribbled or doodled on their notebooks, one student was looking through his agenda and another was flipping through the textbook on her desk. Ms. Malone attempted to keep the class engaged by saying "as we flip the page we will see..." and then paused to make sure everyone was looking at the specific lab page that she was discussing. After the directions, Ms. Malone showed some videos of unicellular and multicellular organisms that demonstrated what she had been discussing. As the videos played, she narrated what was happening . I noticed now that students were mo engaged after watching these videos and were now asking questions like "is that how they eat?", " what is that gooey stuff", etc...Ms. Malone now reminds them of their task and allows the students to break up into their groups to continue working on their labs.
Reflection:
In the honors class, the teacher only had to ask questions to keep the students engaged and involved. In the inquiry class, the students needed more aid in keeping their attention. Asking thought provoking questions didn't work very well to keep them on task as it did with the honors class. The students in inquiry have some mild behavioral, attention, and learning disabilities. Possibly due to this reason, the students were unable to comprehend what was being asked of them and they lost interest quickly, leading them off task. In order to engage these students, the teacher had a back up plan. Since this is an inquiry class with a lot of students who have I.E.P.'s, Ms. Malone already planned to include some type of differential instruction. By showing the students an animated clip and an amoeba moving under a microscope, the students were now able to focus a little more since they don't have to visualize it themselves having only been provided with an explanation. This applied to the visual/ spatial learners from Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. The students proved to the teacher that this secondary attempt to capture their attention worked because they were now all paying attention and asking questions.Besides using visual aids, Ms. Malone maintains good classroom management by walking around the classroom. This method was affective for both honors and the inquiry class. The teacher would occasionally move throughout the rows and aisle to ensure all students had their notebooks out, and were doing what they were supposed to be. This also encouraged students to participate because I noticed as the teacher circulated and made eye contact with some students, they were prompted to prove they were paying attention by asking questions or answering those asked by the teacher.
To me, student engagement is huge. Teaching is about getting students to make connections, spark interests, and obtain knowledge about certain topics. How can a teacher expect to do that if the students aren't engaged? You can have a great lesson that when students are engaged for it, it works well. If the students are not engaged however and are thinking about after school activities and lunch, then a teacher is left teaching to a bunch of empty minds. Teaching anything to unengaged students is like teaching to an empty classroom, or a wall. Student engagement is the key to them taking anything out of the lesson. I plan to engage students by opening every lesson in an interesting and entertaining way that will either urge them to make connections to their lives, or leave them so curious they are dying to begin what I had planned for that day. Throughout the lesson I will make sure students are on task by walking around the room, making eye contact, and calling on students to answer questions. If I feel that I'm losing the students, I might then have them participate in an activity of some sort to bring them back on task in an active way. Students are more likely to stay engaged if the material applies to them, so I will constantly be trying to show the students why each thing we are learning about is important, and how or why they might use it in the future. Besides these strategies to keep students engaged, I also plan to have a comfortable classroom environment with limited interruptions ( such as food, drink, cell phones, and calling out) which will all hopefully contribute to better student engagement. Without the students paying attention and being involved in the lesson, they would miss out on so many great learning opportunities that teachers took the time with planning. This is why incorporating some type of student engagement method into a lesson plan is so crucial if you want to reach the learning goals and objectives.